Yummy? How vegans turned jackfruit into a bestseller
IT can smell like rotting onions, weigh up to 110lb and the skin has a leathery texture. But demand for jackfruit is soaring in the UK as a meat-alternative for vegans and vegetarians.
When cooked, the Asian fruit (pictured below) resembles the texture of meats such as pork and beef. Jackfruit has now begun to rival traditional meat substitutes such as tofu, Quorn and seitan.
Its appearance on menus has coincided with the fast-growing number of vegans in the country – estimated at 3.5million.
Leading supermarkets and restaurant chains have pounced on its foodie appeal. Unable to be cultivated commercially in Britain, jackfruit – the largest fruit grown on a tree – is imported in cans or frozen and can be eaten dried. Before being split open, it can produce an odour like onions, but the flesh inside smells sweet.
Each fruit contains multiple yellow- coloured edible bulbs, while its seeds can be ground into flour.
Waitrose has launched a £3.19 jackfruit biryani and £4.79 hoisin jackfruit parcels – as well as selling canned pieces of the fruit in brine. Sainsbury’s is selling its own-brand sweet & smoky BBQ pulled jackfruit for £3.
Restaurant chains have also joined the trend, with Gourmet Burger Kitchen last week launching a jackfruit burger.
Pizza Express uses the fruit, which comes from the same family as the fig and mulberry, on its vegan Puttanesca pizza.
It has been heralded as a ‘miracle’ food crop because of its abundance in the countries where it grows.
Jackfruit is thought to have originated in India, where it is sometimes seen as an unappetising ‘poor food’. In some areas of the country, up to 75 per cent of jackfruit produced every year goes to waste.
India’s most southerly state, Kerala, is the world’s largest jackfruit supplier with booming exports. The fruit is also grown in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia.
However, food critic Jay Rayner has dismissed jackfruit as the ‘latest hip, unconvincing replacement for meat’.